I am looking for some plants/flowers/bulbs for my front garden that will look nice all year round. something that will flower in spring summer and remain as foilage for the rest of the year. any ideas? many thanks.

25 Sep, 2010

Answers

Rule out bulbs, then - they flower and then the leaves fade over a few weeks. You could grow some in pots for some spring colour, and remove them later, though.

Herbaceous plants appear in the spring, flower, and then need cutting back ready for reappearance in the spring...so they're not what you want, either. There are evergreen perennials - look at Heucheras with very attractive leaves.

What you're after too is a flowering evergreen shrub. Try Viburnum tinus - there's also a variegated one which I think is prettier. Then there's Choisya ternata.

I'd say both those mentioned will be too large in a small border, october21. How small are we talking in terms of length and width, and how much sun does the area get? Is the border immediately behind a wall?

Viburnum tinus 'variegatum', if you can find it, is quite a slow growing shrub - the plain green one might be too vigorous for you. Same with the Choisya if the border isn''t wide. Can you tell me the measurements, please?

Look at Heucheras, definitely, as they're colourful all year round. I really would think about some bulbs, too.

That's a very small area to plant and the problem you have is that evergreen small shrubs often don't flower - larger ones will get too large, and will need enough space for a spread widthways of 4 feet or more which, obviously, fills the space available and more. I'd imagine the wall shades the bed, so although the garden is sunny, the immediate area behind the wall up to the height of it isn't, it'll be shady. You could try the larger lavenders (Dutch lavender), but a mix of plants there which flower is difficult because of limited space. If the wall is only 2 feet, I'd be inclined to use Dutch lavender and possibly Euonymus microphyllus for variegated evergreen colour.